Rebels Acquit Commander in Killing of 3 Americans

SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia — The nation's leading Marxist rebel group said Tuesday that it had absolved a rebel leader accused of ordering the kidnap-killings last year of three Americans apparently supporting an Indian anti-oil drilling campaign.

Colombian and U.S. authorities have said German Briceno, a feared commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was directly responsible for ordering the abduction and subsequent killings of the Americans, which sparked international outrage.

But Raul Reyes, the FARC's chief spokesman and a member of its ruling general secretariat, said an internal investigation had cleared Briceno of any responsibility in the case.

He said, however, that three other rebels, including a man the FARC has previously described as a rogue field commander, were still being investigated for the killings.